OBSESSIONS OF BERLIN
Even the tracks of the
city
railway were removed, but had to be brought
back at a later date. The street-cars were moved to Russia. The Ger–
mans repaired previously discarded ones; but they, too, were taken.
Only the oldest, most dilapidated ones were left to Berlin.
With the entering of the Allied troops about half of Berlin was freed
of the Russians. The expropriations were legalized, the removals were
now being called reparations. The Russian troops moved into barracks
and bunkers formerly housing German troops. Their uniforms seemed
cleaner and they began to let their hair grow. But the more well-man–
nered they became, the less could be seen of them. Their isolation is not
complete, of course; they can still be observed guarding the factories
and offices that work for them. They have their parades and patrols
and also their time off. They still plant their machine-guns on railway
stations to check the papers of all who pass. But there is no longer that
one-sided "fraternization" of the first months of the occupation.
Ill
Russia has lost in Germany, most certainly in Berlin, notwithstand–
ing all the apparent "good will" the people show toward the Socialist
Unity Party, Russia's German instrument. It is not propaganda, nor
a stubborn refusal to
be
disillusioned, which explains some of the Ber–
liners' "enthusiasm" for Russia's German policy. Behind the "enthusiasm"
hides fear, which is kept alive by an invisible terror that may at any
day come into the open.
On May Day 1948 there were nearly three-quarters of a million
people in the
Lustgarten
demonstration called by the Russian-sponsored
Socialist Unity Party. Apparently more than the number of those who
attended the Socialist demonstration at the Reichstag building. Only
two Russians in mufti, and one in uniform, shared the tribune with
Piek and his staff. Few Russians were seen along the route. The slogans
were all related to imagined German needs, and against the Marshall
Plan. Hour by hour the demonstrators passed the reviewing stand. Their
shoutings, however, had no spontaneity, but were directed by groups
of claques near the loudspeaker-system. The Communist-controlled Ber–
lin police formed part of the demonstration and received the loudest ap–
plause. Over and over again the loudspeakers burst forth with "Long
live the German people's police." The Moscow-trained former Nazi of–
ficer, Markgraf, at that time Berlin's sole police president, smiled down
to the masses, coquettishly waving a red carnation or clicking his heels
in an earnest salute. Berlin's love for the police and the love of the
police for the Berliners seemed boundless and all-embracing.
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